The Omnivore’s Dilemma
July 3rd, 2007 | Published in Agriculture, Ecology, Food, Consumerism, Books & Reading
I finally got around to reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan a few days ago. I’m about half way through and it’s excellent. Pollan says we have a “national eating disorder” and highlights the irony that our stereotyped unhealthy country is so obsessed with “health food” and diets. He walks through his personal journey with industrial agriculture, organic agriculture, and hunting/gathering. The first 1/3 of the book is devoted to corn, because we eat more corn than anything else, though we don’t know it. It’s in everything, quite literally.
This is a great book to read if you’re interested in the food you eat, which I suppose should be everyone. Actually, if you’re not interested in the food you eat, this might be exactly what you need to read. You’ll never look at industrial (or industrial organic) food quite the same way again.
There are many interesting quotes I’ve marked, which are sure to find their way onto the site in the next few months.